


10 Times

by EsculentEvil



Series: EsculentEvil's BatJokes Shots [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Arkham Asylum, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Moral Ambiguity, Romance, Slow Burn, Trust, dark themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 03:38:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16846381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsculentEvil/pseuds/EsculentEvil
Summary: 9 times Batman keeps Joker out of Arkham because it’s corrupted and he’s noticed; the 1 time he doesn’t, because he didn’t notice, and the price he almost pays. Featuring a LOT of fluff.Originally posted to my Tumblr @esculentevil





	10 Times

## The first time is just a black eye.

He notices it after apprehending the Joker and throwing him up against a wall for the sake of security. As the hard, metal cuffs click violently over thin, delicate wrists, the trembling man attached to them turns to grin a too-wide smile at his captor; only to reveal a dark blotch on his, otherwise, porcelain-colored face.

At first, Batman thinks it’s just his normal war paint; then, he sees it has no twin.

So, when Joker dislocates his thumbs and slips away, Batman lets him.

* * *

## The second time is a ring of dark bruises around his neck.

This one was easier to notice; in fact, Robin noticed it before Batman did. The main reason for this was simply because Joker wasn’t dressed well: he was still in his Arkham scrubs when he busted out, having had no time to grab his confiscated stuff or no henchperson to help him out.

The result is him running around in a low-neck top that perfectly displays the eerie collection of finger- and needle-shaped markings clustering his throat.

Robin says nothing when Batman stops him from going after the madman; later, Alfred doesn’t complain, either.

* * *

## The third time is his torn, bleeding wrists.

This one was a bit more horrifying and Robin nearly pitched a fit because his young heart was still struggling to come to terms with the truth aforementioned wrists were blaring:  _Arkham is not a haven_. It’s Alfred, through a phone call, that manages to calm the terrified boy down while Batman focuses on cleaning and wrapping the Joker’s wrists.

When he asks if he should look into things, the clown is despondent.

Then he laughs—dark, cold, and foreboding—before running away from them; no one chases after him nor comments on the kiss burning Batman’s cheek.

* * *

## The fourth is Joker not running away from him.

He sort of just... stood there—smiling.

Batman took him home (to the Batcave) and set up a cot for him.

He was gone the next morning, a kiss-mark staining Batman’s lips (a thank you).

* * *

## The fifth is tears.

Batman had to stop Robin from busting down Arkham’s doors and beating everyone beyond them black and blue—the boy was that furious. (Later, when asked, Dick will explain that he doesn’t hate the Joker—not really—and that he doesn’t think he—or anyone, for that matter—deserves to be treated the way Arkham is obviously treating him; he’ll also point out that—despite the horrible things Joker does—his antics are the only things in the world that light up Bruce Wayne’s dead eyes and make Batman  **smile** ; he says  _that’s worth a bit of living crazy, if you ask me_.) Even Alfred had a hard time dealing with him.

But they figure it out and, perhaps unwisely, Batman let Dick drive the Batmobile home while he sat in the bucket seat with Joker sobbing silently in his arms.

He’s still there in the morning, face bare from too many tears, and his silence is almost as heartbreaking as his wary stares. Joker doesn’t trust Alfred (which they think is crazy until he starts screaming about war vets and the 1940′s like he’d been there—and, really, Batman and Alfred feel that he, somehow, has [even if he IS only 30-something years old (yea they still don’t know his actual age)]) and switches back and forth between trusting and not trusting Robin (but he seems fine and even friendly with Richard—something they have been shamefully abusing); but it’s the way he is with Batman that tells them everything: the way he clutches the vigilante, the way he watches those gloved hands like they’ll be the death of him, the way he buries himself in the knight’s cape but never takes his eyes off every part of him.

He’s hyper aware and scared (although, of what they aren’t fully sure).

So they bring out Bruce Wayne. The result of this was almost comedic, honestly, and Bruce still feels a bit of pride when he remembers that slack jawed stare of  _o my evil jive i think bruce wayne **the** bruce wayne is flirting with me what the fizz_. Joker is surprisingly shy when he is on the receiving end of a good flirt session. Bruce isn’t sure if this is because most people (including Batman—let’s be honest) reject him when he does it or if he’s just never been faced with such blatancy before; either way, the rich man goes at it with flare.

He wines and dines the Joker, aided by his father and son, without holding back.

He watches eyes normally lit by insanity soften and glow with joy. He watches red dance across cheeks normally paler than ice and moonlight. He watches and listens as Joker laughs warmly at his corny jokes and Richard’s stories from school and Alfred’s super sassy antics.

He watches Joker slip into his life like a missing puzzle piece that had always been there—just waiting to be noticed with a smile.

He falls in love.

* * *

## The sixth time is because Joker wouldn’t let go of his hand.

This takes place after Bruce realizes the truth and almost throws it all away.

He’s Batman when he takes that trembling hand, determined to put the clown back in Arkham.

He’s Bruce Wayne when he gathers the terrified man into his arms and promises not to let go of his hand either.

* * *

## The seventh is because he  **asked**  (and the fact that Bruce was sure he would have  **begged**  if the Bat didn’t cave as quickly as he did).

“I want to go back.”

“... To Arkham?”

“... with you ...”

* * *

## The eighth is Joker literally running straight to him (and, boy, was that the most terrifying sight to behold: Joker  **that SCARED** ).

His seemingly tiny body slams itself into Batman’s torso with the force of a frightened man. They topple over into the thick snow and Batman can’t  **breathe** , Joker’s clutching him that tightly (that and, of course, the wind got knocked out of him). Robin doesn’t seem all that surprised or reluctant when Arkham guards and orderlies rush out of the Asylum and he is forced to fight them off.

And if he goes at them like  **they** ’re the villains, well, Batman’s not complaining.

Neither is Joker.

* * *

## The ninth is after the eighth; Joker’d never left.

It was, in retrospect, Batman’s dumbest idea. After Robin cleared a path for his two elders, the black-clad vigilante took the villainous clown to the Batmobile without question. Once again, he let Dick drive.

Joker, at least, wasn’t crying that time.

They’d gone straight to the Batcave and unloaded the vehicle, depositing Joker upstairs instead of in the cot they gave him before. Batman’s excuse for this is still that Joker was passed out at the time (the main reason he wasn’t crying in the car) and won’t know where he wakes up.

By now, however, they all know that’s cards.

The main give away was the fact that Batman didn’t stay. The moment Joker was situated in  **Bruce Wayne’s bed** , the cowl was off and the suit was hung. This means that, when Joker wakes in the morning of the ninth time, it’s not his Bat that greets him.

It’s the flirty billionaire with the kind smile and cool son and pseudo-father.

And he doesn’t mind.

* * *

## But the tenth (the one time after all of this that Bruce didn’t see it) is the result of a lie—a  **cover-up** —told by Arkham Asylum:  _The Joker is Dead_.

His heart had stopped and shriveled in his chest, heavy like lead.

He almost didn’t believe the man he found passed out in his bed.

Honestly, he doesn’t believe it until those insane eyes are fluttering with life and that gaunt face is smiling at him as those ruby red lips form around his name: Brucie-boy.

* * *

The 11th.

As it turns out, the Joker faked his own death with a bit of Harleen Quinzel’s help; and, once his body was released for cremation, Harley Quinn picked him up and drove him to the Wayne’s. She didn’t ask why and left him there without questions (after making sure he won’t actually die). But, if asked, he would have simply said this:  _My death marks my understanding of true love_.


End file.
